Russell Joyce - Hope Brooklyn NY & Faith Center, Eugene OR

Russell Joyce planted Hope Brooklyn and now leads Faith Center Eugene, one of the most significant churches in Oregon. My friend Bill Gross discipled him as a young man at Hope Chapel Apex, NC. After graduating from seminary, he and a small team planted a church affiliated with Drew Hyun, Edwin Colon and New City Network. Part of Russell’s story involves Edwin’s generosity when he offered free meeting space (a rare commodity in New York) to a church centered a location just two blocks away. That generosity characterizes New City Network.Around the time the Spirit began nudging him to hand off the Brooklyn church, he was asked to assume the leadership of Faith Center – during COVID.He describes the strength he gained via the trials of the pandemic and its attendant isolation, along with the charge from the previous pastor, Steve Overman, him to be his own man rather than give place to the giants who had gone before him. Besides leading the Eugene congregation, Russell heads “Foursquare Multiply” the church planting arm of that denomination. He describes their efforts as a trellis to aid others as their vine grows to fruitfulness. A mutual friend brought us together, so I first met Russell in this interview. But it felt like meeting an old friend partly due to shared values but also because our lives were shaped by some of the same people. Russell pastors the church planted by my friend and “older brother” Roy Hicks Jr. It was Roy who set the bar for church planting in our early years in Hermosa. Steve Overman, who followed Roy and now supports Russell, is an admired friend. Bill Gross came up in Hope Chapel Hermosa during my last few years there – and he continues to influence me when we interact.You may ask yourself, “Isn’t a lot of name-dropping happening here?” There is!It’s because meeting Russell so underscored how we’re “no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”You can connect with Russell through the email at faithcenter.org. his Instagram or foursquaremultiply.com.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.